This isn’t Cody’s first foray into giving the gift of reading. It started a few years ago when he donated dictionaries. The he bought books for an entire third grade class. This year, he went big, buying for the entire school.

“I was really amazed at this youth. He’s only 18 years old and he’s willing to give money he earned to students he doesn’t know. I was very impressed he was that generous,” said second-grade teacher Effie Griffith.

Cody raised more than $2,000 to buy 420 books for the students. He said he used emai and Facebook to spread the word about the cause.